I's Engaged Now...

I've been ghost here recently and I wanted to let you know that it's not without reason.  I got engaged on April 10, and I've been caught up in a whirlwind ever since.  We have set an aggressive timeline for the actual ceremony (October), so I have to get on the ball.  A million things ran through my mind when I was thinking about my big day, but as you can imagine, one of the first things I thought about was..my hair.  What style could I have that wouldn't require me to sell my soul to be fierce?  First thing I thought about was some type of curly updo.  I really like curls and think that this won't be too difficult to pull off.  When I searched the net however, I didn't really come up with much, but this:

  So what about a sleek look, simple but elegant.  This is what I found:

My gripe is this though: why when you search for updos or wedding hairstyles, all the ones featuring African-American women are hard or weave down the back?  Where is the creativity?  Can anyone hook me up with some other styling ideas?

Bantu'd

I tried a "dry" bantu last night. And today I have T.A.C. (tight ass curls).  I must admit, I do like the curl pattern that the knots create. But it took forever to dry. I didn't even start completely wet, so I can only imagine how long that takes. You probably need a few days where you do not have to leave the house to try this as a wet style.

This isn't really a how-to, because I'm lazy today. Hit up the comment section if you need details.

The back was still damp this morning, but I kept it moving. I hope they fall...if not, I'll do a half and half to stretch it out.

Hair-perimentations: Flat Twist Out

I have to be honest, I have not been feeling fierce these last couple of days.  I have been sick and rocking the same faux curly pony fro (i need to come up with a better name- it's just rodded hair pulled back with a stocking and gives the allusion of a big curly ponytail).  While bored at home and cruising the internet, catching up on my reader, I came across this video on CurlyNikki .  After watching I figured why not give it a try.  I was at home with nothing else to do, didn't feel like washing but knew I needed to do something for Friday. So I went to it. Here's what I did.

1. Took a section of hair that I would twist and combed through with my wide tooth comb.
2. Applied some shea butter to my ends.
3. Sprayed a generous amount of Giovanni Leave-In to the section.
4. Followed with a pump of Giovanni Mousse (loves this stuff, shine is undeniable)
5. Started to twist.  Refer to the video linked above for the method, but I did mine a bit tighter.
6. Applied a satin roller to the ends.
7. Repeated until I had about 6 twists. Looked a lil' something like this.  (I really need to work on my phototaking skills)

I tied down with a satin scarf and kept it moving for the rest of the day.  This morning after showering, I took each twist down being careful not to manipulate the curls too much so they wouldn't frizz.  I wasn't exactly pleased with the front (I never am), but instead of pinning back as usual, I decided to try something different.  I took a section of hair from each side and braided it back, braided the other side, then pinned them to the back together.  This is the end result.

I must say, I was a flat twist queen when I was relaxed, but hadn't really attempted since being natural.  I guess I figured it was too much work, but I must say it was pretty simple. It took no more than 20 minutes to twist and I hopefully it won't look a ham tomorrow.  When I do a braid out, it's easier for me to just rebraid at night.

Price of Beauty

In this article from Black Voices, the writer highlights 3 experiences and the difficulty she had with trying to get her natural hair done at an affordable price.  She refers to it as the Natural Hair Tax which basically means that often, those living the natural life often pay an arm and a leg for any hairstyle done professionally that doesn't require the hair to be cooked.

To be fair to the stylists, it does require additional effort and time to style natural hair.  If it takes them 3 hours to twist natural hair, why is it not expected that they will charge you at least 2x as much as a style that only takes them 1.5 hours? I've sat in the shop and had to wait for the natural girl to finish getting her hair twisted.  Though natural myself, I was still salty as I was in there to get my birthday press and sitting in the salon longer than anticipated was not conducive to my other birthday pampering plans.  Not only did that experience and extra 1.5 hours of my life that I can't get back  remind me of how I hate going to salons now, it made me realize that for any 'natural' style that doesn't require heat...I won't waste my time or money going to the salon.  I'm sure there will come a point in time where I will want to have someone else do all the work, but for now, I enjoy being a DIY-er.  May not always save me time, but it saves me $.  If I don't like it, I can switch it up the next day without worrying about how much money I'm wasting.

How much are you willing to spend to maintain your natural fierceness?  If you frequent a salon for natural styles, is it because you've tried and failed to create these styles yourself or is there another reason?